The Saturday press., October 01, 1927, Image 3

About The Saturday press. (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1927-1936

Image provided by: Minnesota Historical Society; Saint Paul, MN

                
Saturday, Oct, % 1927,
gat that old connection,
“Trib?” You birds get such a
“kick” out of reconnecting
Guilford and myself with the
Twin City Reporter that per
haps you will be able to get a
giggle out of the Reporter own
er’s former connection with
your “great moral journal,”
"eh?
I did not know at that time,
that Bevans had been .dis
charged by Guilford because
he had been caught red-hand
ed “making a shake,” in other
words, blackmailing some poor
devil.
Guilford had one child, a
boy just of school age. The boy
was cruelly twitted by his play
mates because of his father’s
connection with the Reporter.
“Gil”''announced to me late
that summer that he was go
ing to get out of the sheet if he
had to give it away.
I was strange to the city. I
made Guilford an offer for the
paper providing I could induce
Bevans to take a half interest.
“Gil” advised me that if I did,
to “watch Jack,” but didn’t tell
me from what angle! On Jan
uary Ist, 1917, Guilford step
ped out of the Twin City Re
porter office AND HAS
NEVER BEEN CONNECTED
WITH IT IN ANY WAY OR
MANNER SINCE THAT
DATE.
Never physically strong, I
had to devote all my time and
energy to the editorial end of
the paper. I knew nothing of
what was going on outside and
but little of what went on in
the office for I did practically
all my writing at home.
For about a year things went
along smoothly. I heard noth
ing that aroused my suspicions.
One cannot be eternally spying
on one’s friends and every man
who has a partner naturally
has a great confidence in that
partner—until he has learned
in the bitter school of experi
ence of that “pard’s” treach
ery.
In 1919 rumors reached me
that set me thinking. When
finally a tale came to me of
Bevans’ “shakes” I told him
bluntly that if that came to me
again, he or I would get out of
the paper. Later on in that
year (I do not recall the exact
month) a grand crash came.
He and one of the men em-
ployes undertook to “shake
down” a prominent woman for
ten thousand dollars. That was
the last straw. I called him
into my office and told him to
“buy or sell” and then for the
first time I learned what a
“wonderful” fellow I had as a
partner,
He informed me with a fine
air of bravado that he had IN
VESTED EIGHT HUNDRED
DOLLARS OF THE FIRM’S
MONEY IN A GAMBLING
JOINT LOCATED NEAR SEV
ENTH AND HENNEPIN and
coolly told me that unless I
kept him as a partner, I would
lose my half of that sum.
Friends,, it was worth four
hundred dollars to me to know
that I had a double-crossing
skunk as a partner. I sold for
twenty-five per cent of what
the paper was actually worth,
told Bevans to go to with
that four hundred dollars and
walked out.
I HAVE NOT BEEN CON
NECTED IN ANY WAY OR
MANNER WITH THE TWIN
CITY REPORTER SINCE
1919.
Guilford severed all connec
tions with it in 1916 and I in
1919, yet:
Not a month has passed
since those dates that each of
us have not been taunted with
our connection with the black
mailing, gambling-protecting
rag AND WE ARE TIRED OF
IT.
We are not gunmen; we are
not blackmailers; we are not
thugs. We have tried to live
down our former connection
wit& the Twin City Reporter
and we have found it an im
possible task, for as long as
that sheet continues to exist,
just that long will Minneapolis
citizens be. exposed to black
mail; just that long will Min
neapolis reputations be black
ened; just that long WILL
PROTECTED GAMBLING
FLOURISH IN MINNEAPO
LIS, and just that long will Mr.
Guilford and myself be ostra
cised, AND OUR NAMES BE
USED BY THE GANG IN ITS
BLACKMAILING ACTIV
ITIES.
In another part of this issue
you will find an article written
by Mr. Guilford on Friday af
ternoon before he was shot. In
it he tells of the gambling joint
at 818 Hennepin avenue. The
daily papers tell you that the
police have no knowledge of a
gambling place at that num
ber.
When the same coterie of
gamblers were operating at
208 11th Avenue South, they,
as Guilford tells you in his arti
cle, ROBBED A BANK THIEF
—think of it: A PACK OF
THIEVES ROBBING A BOY
WHO HAD STOLEN FROM
HIS EMPLOYERS THAT HE
MIGHT POSSIBLY WIN
BACK A PORTION OF HIS
THE SATURDAY PRESS
OWN'/ MONEY LOST AT
THEIR “FIXED” GAME!
And when the police raided
that hpie at 208 11th Avenue
South, they didn’t raid it at
aIU THEY RAIDED TWO
DOORS AWAY and the big
game never closed for a mo
ment, not even while the police
were raiding the “joint” one
hundred feet distant!
I have been out of the city
for four years, yet the second
visit I made downtown after
my return I was informed that
the “big game” would open at
BLB Hennepin on the following
Thursday night and I ask you
in all fairness, if a semi-stran
ger can locate the “big game”
within two hours after he visits
the downtown section and have
the information given him
WITHIN TWO DOORS OF
POLICE HEADQUARTERS,
isn’t it evident, painfully plain,
that the police DID know of
the grand opening? If you
deny or alibi for •them, won’t
you be fair enough to admit
that if they didn’t know that
they aren’t fit to have charge
of a police department?
%
Shortly after I had broken
with Bevans in 1919, he made
some connection with Ed Mor*
gan, the present and ostensible
owner of the Reporter. Mor
gan never was a writer, a
newspaper man, but he is re
puted to be a “tough egg” well
connected with the underworld
and “the best business man
ager the Reporter ever had.”
Jack Bevans and Ed Morgan
own the Twin City Reporter.
Today Ed Morgan is under an
indictment for blackmail. Bev
ans has ALWAYS had a “fall
guy” in any and all his opera
tions.
He owned a roadhouse on
the. shore of Mille Lacs lake
for several years which he op
erated with the wild abandon
of old saloon days. He made a
small fortune at that place, all
the time keeping in close con
tact with Ed Morgan, who
looked after the “business”
end of the Reporter and their
amalgamated interests in the
gambling joint.
The Reporter was held as a
club over officials. Every
morning Ed Morgan could be
seen stalking into police head
quarters with the pomposity
and arrogance of a Duke. His
swagger was not assumed. He
was the “big boy.” He was a
part owner of the gambling
joint, first at 208 11th Avenue
South and later at 818 Henne
pin Avenue* -
Bevans, cautious to the point
of timidity, seldom “made” po-
lice headquarters. Possibly,
there was a grim suggestive
ness about those cold stone
walls that chilled his ardor and
dampened his enthusiasm even
when the game was “going
good;”
These two men dominated
the gambling situation in Min
neapolis only and solely be
cause of their ownership of the
Twin City Reporter.
With them in the gambling
house at 818 was Mose Bar
nett, an underworld character
who previous to his connection
with Bevans and Morgan was
reputed to be a “square shoot
er” in the gambling game.
How the precious pair succeed
ed in inveigling “Big Moe” into
entering into any partnership
with them will forever be a
mystery.
Associated with this trio was
“Red” Clare, said to be the
best crap game operator in the
Northwest. I have now ac
counted for four of the princi
pal owners of the gambling
joint at 818 Hennepin Avenue.
Morgan and Bevans held the
reins because of their owner
ship of the Twin City Reporter.
It was in their power at any
and all times to “break the
game” by exposing it through
the columns of their paper,
but: THEY HELD THE RE
PORTER OVER THE HEADS
OF PQLICE OFFICIALS EX
ACTLY AS THEY USED IT
TO INTIMIDATE THEIR CO
PARTNERS IN THE GAM
BLING FIELD JUST AS
THEY USED IT TO BLACK-
M A I L UNFORTUNATES
WHO HAD STUMBLED AND
FELL OVER THE “MORAL
CODE.”
Bear this in mind:
Our attack last week was
aimed at but two targets: The
gambling syndicate operating
openly at 818 Hennepin Ave
nue and the Twin City Report
er, BOTH OWNED IN WHOLE
OR IN PART BY J. D. BEV
ANS AND ED MORGAN, EDI
TOR AND OWNERS OF THE
TWIN CITY REPORTER.
I have refrained from men
tioning the fourth beneficiary
of the gambling joint. THE
WINNINGS WERE SPLIT
“FOUR WAYS.” I shall leave
the fourth bucko out of the pic
ture for a time, trusting to the
impending Grand Jury investi
gation to smoke that individual
out of his hole.
Guilford was shot deliber
ately and as the climax to a
well defined plan. His assail
ants made the fatal mistake of
not familiarizing themselves
with the boundary lines of our
(Continued on page 7)
l>agt Throe